In September 2008, I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a huge shock to me. Within you will find my journey into the scary world of cancer and my struggles to emerge from it.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Fry Baby

I really don't like radiation. True there are no needles, no poisonous chemicals but damages are silently occurring. Each day I go to a different room with different technicians. The technician dujour seems like she never smiled in her life. You lie on the slab while they adjust you (Lie Heavy!Don't Help!). But you are always aligned somewhat differently so they have to take numerous x-rays to realign you. No lead shields over my reproductive organs-nada! I am zapped 4 times in the actual radiation that might take all of 2 minutes. 3 down-13 to go. I was sore the first day but only if I bump my breast does it hurt now. My blog pal Sharon has been fried to a crisp after 25 treatments such that her skin has peeled off leaving her raw and in alot of pain.

Radiation is for 'local' control. Apparently they can never be sure that they got all of the cancerous cells out-there's often little satellites. Mets are a more dangerous problem so that's why chemo is usually first to deal with any cells that might have escaped the breast. Chemo doesn't do well inside the breast but radiation does. If I had had a mastectomy, I probably would not need radiation but some people have tumors close to the chest wall that still might have pieces despite removing the majority of the breast.

I was afraid to run yesterday as I thought I was in a weakened condition but I did go for a long walk. Much easier than a few weeks ago. While I was out there, a woman from my LiveStrong program pulled up beside me. I had assumed she lived far away as she had taught in a school district 20 miles from here but no, she lives a few miles away and is in a carpool with my neighbor. She has almost 2 inches of hair despite being out of chemo 6 weeks. However she has lost a good deal of her hearing due to Cytoxan. I keep thinking that it was really due to Adriamycin-a first cousin of streptomycin-a known ototoxin. I had a job a very long time ago at the Kresge Hearing Research Inst documenting damage to hair cells ( inside the organ of Corti inside the cochlea) due to various antibiotics. Lots of them did-especially ones with mycin in their name.

Yesterday Steve and I went to the restaurant run by the culinary arts students at Washtenaw Community College for their buffet full of vegetables that I usually don't eat like a leek and fennel casserole, baby patty pans, marinated portobellos, and so on. A very good deal. Also they sell deluxe baked goods for way less and of much better quality than anywhere else. I bought this very good lemon sponge cake for Naomi's birthday which I decorated with green and gold sugar glitter. Very tasty.

Steve and me

40th anniversary trip to Spain

About me

I am a mother of 3, wife of 1, and grandmother of 6. For years, I had been a medicinal chemist. Not long after I was retired early, I found myself with triple negative breast cancer. My struggles with it are in this blog along with the joys and trials of being a mother and grandmother. I love to be physically active, travel, read, and garden. Although my degrees are in chemistry and cellular biology not medicine, I keep up with the medical literature and report herein watching closely for good news against this deadly disease. As time goes on, my stay in Cancerland has become more a bad memory than a reality. This blog has since morphed into a photo blog in which I try to capture moments of beauty in my life.